GROWING WAR BILL

Manawatu Standard, Volume LX, Issue 126, 27 April 1940, Page 10

GROWING WAR BILL

DEALING WITH EVASION. (United "Press Association —By Electric Telegraph.—Copyright.) (British Official W'ireless.) RUGBY, April 23. Though the Chancellor of the Exchequer (Sir John Simon) budgeted for £2,667,000,000, he said in his Budget speech that any estimate of the waV expenditure must lie a guess. “The rate of war expenditure is increasing. It must increase. Indeed,” lie added amid cheers, ‘‘it ought to increase.” For war expenditure authority had to he sought at intervals by votes of credit for round sums, which on the grounds *of public interest did not distinguish between one service and another. He recalled that ho had estimated that the vote for £700,000 000 on March 13 might suffice for rather more than four months of the war. For the first six months of this financial year he put the war expenditure at £950,000 000, but for the whole year ho estimated £2,000 000 000. Of the balance of £667.000,000, some £420.000,000 was required for the ordinary civil estimates, while he was providing the same figure for the service of debt as last year, though this sum of £230,000.000' would certainly be exceeded. Sir John gave an assurance that the Treasury and departments wore making every possible effort to avoid waste and keep down expenditure. He also referred to the legislation introduced in past years to deal with tax evasion, and said lie proposed to amend the provisions introduced by Lord Snowden in 1930 in respect of estate dutv avoidance and at the same time to ileal with other forms which had come to light. “Parliament will show tin sort of tolerance at this time to citizens who seek by a purely artificial arrangement to escape their proper share of the heavy burden of taxation,” Sir .John declared. In the sphere of Customs and excise lie proposed legislation to assist the export trade by improving conditions under which drawback (money paid back or remitted after being collected) was payable..